


Star Wars: The Kin Wars

by eachnighteachmorning



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Humor, Emo Kylo Ren, Idk how to tag things, Multi, but luke skywalker is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-02-17 21:26:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13085688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eachnighteachmorning/pseuds/eachnighteachmorning
Summary: Ben Solo, otherwise known as Kylo Ren is twenty seven, lives with his mother, and works a dead end job. His only escape from the mental anguish and stress of day to day life is his Tumblr, where he blogs about his controversial otherkin identity as Darth Vader, an infamous serial killer. Tensions rise when he receives an ask that will change his life forever. Will he learn how to be a normal, functioning human? Or will he continue discoursing with twelve year olds on the internet for the rest of his miserable life?





	1. Episode I - His twisted world

Kylo kicked off his black slip-on vans and hid them underneath his narrow, single sized bed. A fly buzzed around his room. Ordinarily, he’d have crushed the bug in a fit of rage the minute it flew even remotely close to him, but today he was too tired. As lowly and humiliating he felt his job as a Target stock boy was, hauling boxes of La Croix from the stockroom to the carbonated beverage aisle for 5 hours a day was grueling as hell.

 No one else noticed, but Kylo could swear he was developing muscles from all the heavy lifting he did at work. That almost made up for him having to go out in public wearing a red polo shirt and khakis, having to socialize with his coworkers, and worst of all, having to see all the customers who clearly have better lives than his. Seeing all the happy suburban families and attractive millennial couples who held hands as they picked out avocados for the next morning’s breakfast, released an onslaught of negative emotions from within the depths of Kylo’s soul.

 The internal pity party going on was interrupted when Kylo’s mother abruptly opened his bedroom door. Councilwoman Organa was dressed smartly and holding a glass of ginger ale in one hand and Kylo’s afternoon meds in the other.

 “Ben?” she gestured for him to come her way, “I’m sorry, but I have an important meeting to go to. Can I trust you on your own for a few hours, Sweetheart?”

 Kylo only grunted and approached his mother to get his pills. He hated that she still called him _Ben_ and spoke to him like he was a preteen.

A wave of self loathing hit Kylo hard. Here he was at twenty seven fucking years old, living with his mother, having worked his ass off for a useless bachelor's degree in Sith Studies and stuck working in the stockroom at Target.

 A meaningless life. Pathetic. He hated himself so much. 

When his mother left his room, he spit the pills into his hand and scrambled to get rid of them by dropping them behind his headboard. Kylo didn't want to think about how many pills must be scattered in random places around his room.

 The minute he heard his mother's car leave the driveway, Kylo ran to the living room and grabbed his laptop from the coffee table. He felt so stupid for having to keep his computer out of his room like a child, but his parents decided together that it would be appropriate. That was almost a decade ago, though, and Kylo was in a bad place then, and he did some pretty messed up things to himself.

 Nowadays it was different.

 If Kylo ever wanted to break something, or scream and yell for hours, or slit his wrists in a bathtub, all he did was fire up his PC and log into his Tumblr.

 The website had always intrigued him because of the diversity in the types of people that frequented it. It was his first way of ever meeting or interacting with people who had experiences and feelings and opinions that aligned with his own.

 He made discoveries about the world, about society, but most importantly, about himself.

 Kylo turned on his computer and opened up the website in his browser.

* * *

 URL: Darth-souls2

Password: vader1990

☠ Welcome to My Living Nightmare ☠

☆ Kylo/Ren ☆ 27 ☆ Sith Fandom Dad ☆ Scorpio ☆ Heteroromantic Pansexual ☆ INFJ ☆

☆ I block other Vader kin ☆ Tag your anti Vader posts ☆ Kinphobes will not be tolerated ☆

☆ Yes, I am that guy with the death star tattoo FUCK OFF stop sending me asks about it ☆

Darth-souls2:

Tooday was a fucking h,,orri ble day, my stupid fucking ..bosss keeps oN fucking aClliing me Ben and STILL WON’T FUCKI  NG LET ME PU.T KYLO ON MY NNAMME TAG. Thiss is FUCKINGG PROOF that Kinphobia is real. I just wanna fucking k,,ill myself II’m so fuckkingg sick of this shit eevery da.y There is nnothing but ffucking sheep in thi ..suseless fucking twisted worlld.

* * *

 When Kylo first heard of the concept of ‘Otherkin’, he found it confusing and ridiculous, but when Kylo actually tried looking into it, he understood completely.

 When Kylo was a child, he struggled to fall asleep many nights, because his parents were prone to getting into arguments downstairs. These fights would inflame all the guilt, rage, and other poisons from the depths of the small boy’s heart.

 The only thing that could calm him down was pulling out a flashlight and flipping through the giant copy of _The complete History of the Sith_ he brought in from his mother’s shelf until he found the section dedicated to Darth Vader, one of the country’s most notorious domestic terrorists, and the most well known documented member of the world’s most infamous cult.

 Born Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader rose to acclaim as a deadly member of the Sith. Members of the Sith were forced to take on new identities, leave their homes, jobs, and families, and become solely dependant on the cult. High ranking members, like Vader had to prove their worth and devotion by having one or more of their limbs removed. From the late seventies to the early eighties, the Sith threatened, abused, and scammed its’ way to power.

 In 1980, Vader was identified as the Star Killer, a masked villain who for years would go to the home of anyone who was deemed a threat to the Sith’s power, and brutally murder them in the dead of night. When the police would go in to investigate, they would always find a Death Star, the symbol of the Sith, painted on one of the walls in blood.

 An organization known as PFANH (or, People For A New Hope) located Vader and put an end to his reign of terror once and for all. He was tried on multiple charges and sentenced to death in 1983, and would go down in history alongside people like Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer.

 Kylo always had an understanding of Vader that no one else seemed to share.

 Vader was so fiercely committed to the Sith he fought for them and died for them. To Kylo, anyone who was so loyal to their cause was justified in whatever it was they did. Kylo believed that Vader was just doing what he thought was the right thing to do.

 While the world saw Vader as an evil killing machine with a cold, robotic heart, Kylo was able to project himself into Vader, seeing him as a misunderstood, sensitive loner, willing to fight and die for his passion.

 Kylo initially entered the strange online world of Tumblr as a miserable university student. Kylo first started his blog as a way to help him with some of the research he was doing for his assignments in his Sith Studies courses. The True Crime “fandoms” on Tumblr were pretty active, and many people blogged about things relating to Vader and the Sith in general.

 A user going by the URL, Supreme-leader-dork was the mod of a Sith fandom group on Kik, and invited Kylo to join when the two became mutual followers of each other. One of the members, Anakinslesbiangf, was open about her Sith kin identity. When it was explained to Kylo, a switch flipped in his brain. That was him. He was kin with Darth Vader, as well as with his Sith OC, Kylo Ren.

 The thing is, though, Kylo was Darth Vader’s grandson.

 His mother, Councilwoman Leia Organa, organized the PFANH, and alongside her brother, Luke, played a major role in catching their estranged father.

 Everything made sense to Kylo right then and there. The blood of Anakin Skywalker ran through his veins. He was Darth Vader reborn. That would explain his anger issues, his height, and why no one ever seemed to understand him, ever.

To be kin with someone like Vader was controversial to say the least, especially on such a socially conscious website like tumblr. There were callout posts, block lists, and massive amounts of online attacks against the so called “romanticization” of the Sith. The main argument against all of it was that it was disrespectful to the victims and made light of a serious situation. This always enraged Kylo. They just didn’t understand. No one got it, and especially not those brainwashed fucking sheep.

* * *

Reygun asked:

Why are you kin with vader....he like...killed ppl? I don’t get it.

* * *

 Kylo stared at the message he received for a good four and a half minutes. The fucking nerve this little sheep bitch had. Coming onto his blog just to try and get him riled up, to invalidate his kin identity and his livelihood? Not today. Kylo wasn’t in the fucking mood.

Who even was she?

* * *

Rey // Psychology student at the Skywalker institute // Reader // Yoga fanatic // Vegan

 Reygun:

Hey guys! Always remember that we have a choice every day to do what’s good and right, please keep practicing mindfulness of your thoughts and actions every day! Namaste! <3

* * *

 Oh hell no. This Rey girl had her life together. The fucking pretentious little bitch wanted to flaunt her non-kin, neurotypical privileges. She had no idea what it was like to struggle in ways that Kylo had struggled. Even worse, she was a student of his Uncle Luke’s, no doubt.

Kylo banged his wrist as hard as he could on the desk, and again.

Again, again, again, again, again, again-

Kylo couldn’t just ignore her message. He needed to show her, and all of his followers how she made him feel. Maybe his friends would come for the bitch and track her IP address. It would serve her right, surely.

* * *

 Reygun asked:

Why are you kin with vader....he like...killed ppl? I don’t get it.

 Darth-souls2 answered:

,,,leavfe me alonnew,,,i’m cryinf so hardf i literaljy did nothifng to youj,,,

* * *

 With that, Kylo slammed his computer shut and got up so quickly, and with such a force that his chair came crashing to the ground. He began punching the wall that his desk was up against.

 Again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again .

 Again! Until his knuckles began to bleed. Again! Until a picture of Vader he had taped there began to unstick. Again! Until he felt numb. Again! Just! One! More! Time!!!

 Kylo stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed. He imagined himself as Darth Vader, taking out all of the people who had wronged him. All the kids at school over the years who teased him, his boss, his fucking dad, Uncle Luke, and now, this faceless girl from beyond the screen.

 _Someday,_ he thought, as he began to drift away.


	2. Episode II - Coming out of his cage

“Ben, we’re going to be late!”, Kylo’s mother continued to knock loudly on his door, “You know how important our monthly family brunch is to your uncle!”

“Moooooooom! I’m almost done!”, he grunted in reply, “I can’t concentrate on getting ready if you’re banging on my fucking door!”

“Benjamin Skywalker Solo, I don’t care how old you are, you’re still in trouble if you get an attitude with-”

“I’m ready, _mother_.”, Kylo appeared before her, “Can we just go now?”, he whined like a teenager.

His mother said nothing in reply, nor did she comment on him wearing a beanie and beat up vans with his nice button up shirt and church pants. Some battles just weren’t worth fighting.

In the car, Kylo sat in the back seat and stared out of the tinted window, pretending to be in a movie. His movie would be a 90s or early 2000s style teen coming of age movie, except that Kylo was almost 30, and didn’t have a group of quirky friends to go on a life changing adventure with. He certainly did not want to go on any adventures with Hux and Phasma.

Armie Hux was as close as Kylo had to a good friend, he was a theatre major enrolled in the local community college wherein playing townsperson #4 in a production of A Christmas Carol inspired him to permanently adopt a faux British accent. Kylo did not know much about Hux, other that he would get really really mad whenever Kylo talked to him. He was so freaking cool.

Phasma Tarth was a huge 6’3 gal, butch and strong, who worked at Target with Kylo. He did not know much about her either, but sometimes she would take pity on Kylo and share her chips with him during lunch break.

Kylo closed his eyes and put his five year old Nightmare before Christmas earbuds in both of his ears, only one earbud still worked, but nevertheless he liked the immersive experience of having both in.

He played a song by his eighth favorite band, Evanescence, and kicked back for the rest of the drive.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, guys!” Uncle Luke greeted his sister and nephew with open arms and a warm smile, “I’m so glad you two could make it!”

Kylo’s mother sat down in the booth that Luke got for them and slid over to the window seat and gestured for her son to sit next to her. Luke sat across from his sister.

“Where’s Lando?” Leia asked, “I know he wouldn’t miss brunch for the world!”

“He’s getting Ben’s present from the car.” Uncle Luke replied, “I hope you two don’t mind, but I invited one of my honors students to eat with us. She doesn’t have a family to spend her break with, so I promised her that Lando and I would spend some time with her.”

“We don’t mind at all!” Leia assured her brother, “I love meeting your students, Luke.”

 _I wish I didn’t have a family,_ thought Kylo.

“Ah! Here they are now!” Uncle Luke beamed as Uncle Lando walked over to them. He was holding a gift bag in one hand and an envelope in the other. A pretty girl trailed behind him.

Kylo studied the girl, she had a sunny, freckled face and dark hair. She wasn’t wearing any makeup or jewelry, but she did wear black leggings, and a teal hoodie that spelled “P I N K” across the chest. Kylo didn’t get it, the jacket wasn’t even pink! Kylo did not understand girls.

The two of them sat next to Luke and after a few awkward minutes of quiet, Luke spoke up.

“Rey, honey, this is my nephew, Ben, and my sister, Leia.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Rey smiled sweetly, “Dr. Skywalker told me that I’d like this place because it has good vegan options.”

Kylo felt like he’d been shot in the heart. His mind flashed back to the fateful night when he received that tumblr ask. _Rey. Student at the Skywalker Institute._ **_Vegan_ ** _._

 _Okay Kylo, keep it cool,_ Kylo told himself mentally, “Uh, hey...I’m Ky-... _Ben_...and I like your hoodie.”

“Oh this? Thank you.” Rey said politely.

“Is it like...some sort of ironic statement? Like, it’s not pink but it says it is?”

She looked confused, “Pink is the brand, Ben. You know, Victoria’s Secret Pink?”

Kylo was embarrassed, he never really did learn how to talk to girls. He did not like how his slave name sounded coming out of her mouth. He also thought that she was kind of hot, which made him feel weird, because a) she couldn’t have been older than nineteen, and b) she had at one point blatantly disrespected his kin identity.

“I’m so happy you kids are getting along!” Uncle Luke beamed, “Dear, give Ben his present, please.”

Lando handed Kylo the small bag and card, “We just wanted to give you a nice surprise since we missed your birthday in the fall.”

“Thanks.” Kylo opened the bag and took out a heavy book. The cover had a minimalist drawing of the death star on it, similar to tattoo on Kylo’s wrist, and under it text read: “Rogue One: The first attempt at taking down the nation’s most dangerous villains.”

“This is really cool. Thanks guys.” Kylo forced a smile, at least Uncle Luke was trying.

“What’s that on your arm, Ben?” Rey took his arm and started to pull up his sleeve, barely exposing his death star tattoo.

 _Agirlistouchingmeagirlistouchingmeagirlistouchingme-...WAIT,_ he thought, _NOW SHE’LL RECOGNIZE ME FROM MY BLOG!!!_

Kylo snatched his wrist from her little hand, “Uh...I don’t really like showing it off…”

“No, it’s my fault, really....”  she put her hands up nervously, “It was wrong of me to pry.”

“Uh...yeah.” Kylo looked the other way.

Then a waitress holding a notepad approached the booth, “Good mornin’, Y’all ready to order?”

 

* * *

 

After brunch was over, and everyone was walking to the parking lot, Kylo lagged behind, embarrassed.

“Wait, Ben!” Rey approached him, “May I walk with you?”

“Sure. You didn’t need to ask.”

“Look, I’m sorry about today. But Ben, I recognized your tattoo…are you the person who runs Darth-souls2?”

“You should really be getting to Lando’s car.”

“I drove here myself. I want to talk. I already asked Ms. Organa if I could give you a ride home and she said yes.”

“Of course you did…” he huffed, “Okay. You got me. Now what?”

She took a deep breath, “As you know, I’m a student of your Uncle’s. I want to become a psychologist so I can help people get healthier and live happier lives.”

“Yes, and?”

“I’m doing my dissertation on extreme Sith fans. Your blog specifically, since it had the most information on it and well...because you talk about literally identifying as Anakin Skywalker.”

“Darth Vader…”

“What?”

“He wasn’t Anakin anymore. He was Darth Vader.”

Rey frowned, obviously uncomfortable, “I want you to help me with my dissertation. Will you?”

“Sure.” he shrugged.

“That was...a lot easier than I thought.”

“I don’t have anything better to do.”

“Shall we begin, then?” she asked, leading him to her car, a used, beat up bug.

And with that, their journey began.


	3. Episode 3 - Hysteria

Kylo sat at his desk and took a few deep breaths. He ran a hand through his hair to try and look a little more presentable.

Today was the day.

He glanced at his watch and took a final breath as he heard Rey’s car pull into the driveway.

 

* * *

 

Darth-souls2:

Today is the beginning of a new phase in my life...and I don’t know how I feel about it /:

 

* * *

 

“Well...this is my room…” Kylo awkwardly gestured for Rey to come through the door, “You can sit down if you want.”

Truthfully, it embarrassed Kylo a bit to have someone in his room. With the collage of old Vader pictures cut out and pasted all over the wall above his desk, the 2000s Hot Topic band posters, and the damage done during his breakdowns, it wasn’t exactly the kind of room one should invite people in to see. Much less a pretty girl who smelled like summer.

Rey walked in and sat down at the foot of Kylo’s small bed. Today she was wearing a pair of thick brown reading glasses and clutching a three ring binder.

“Thank you, Ben. I’m really glad you agreed to work with me on this. Do you have a pen?” she smiled sincerely.

“Oh, uh...sure…” Kylo walked over to his desk and rummaged through the drawer, grabbing the first pen he saw in the sea of junk, “It’s got Shadow the Hedgehog on it, if that’s okay…”

“Shadow the _what_...? Who’s that?”

“Nevermind…” he tossed her the pen and sat down on the bed next to her. The bed wasn’t big enough for the both of them, but Kylo was too socially awkward and Rey was too polite to comment on it.

Rey opened her binder and began to write. Kylo noted that she had small hands and wrote very fast. Her nails were bitten down to nubs and her cuticles were torn and ripped, with bits of dried blood peaking through.

“Alright, so I just have some questions for you to answer about the whole ‘kin’ thing…”

“Yeah...?” the feeling of anxiety rushed through his whole body.

“Where and when did you learn about the ‘otherkin’ phenomenon?”

“Online. Back when I was in college, I was doing some research for my Sith Studies coursework, and I...uh...was in a really bad place in my life, and when I found the y’know...community, it was like everything fell into place, I guess...”

“How so?”

“Ever since I was a kid I was really hooked on learning about my family history. My mom had all these books about it...the Sith, I mean, and reading them would always calm me down. My parents would fight a lot and I got bullied at school every day...it was an escape.” He started to get a little choked up, he never told anyone this before, “I really related to Vader…the way he just...got rid of everyone in his way...”

“Are you okay, Ben? If you’re-”

Kylo started going down a black hole and cut her off, “-And then when I was in high school, my fucking dad cheated on my mom and moved out, and it fucking broke me! We were a family and he ruined it! He hasn’t even seen me since I was seventeen! Ten fucking years!”

“Ben, I don’t think-”

“SHUT UP!” Kylo stood up and banged his fist on the wall, “SHUT UP YOU FUCKING WHORE! ARE YOU HAPPY? YOU GOT ME TO OPEN UP FOR YOUR LITTLE... _EXPERIMENT_ , ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY?!”

She looked up at him with wide, wet eyes and curled up into a little ball on Kylo’s little bed.

“I-I’m sorry, Ben…please don’t be mad...” Rey sounded like a scared little girl apologizing to angry parents, “Please, Ben…”

“STOP FUCKING CALLING ME BEN! I’M NOT BEN, OKAY? I’M **KYLO**!” he kicked the wall behind him, making a terrible noise.

Rey was crying and hyperventilating, “Please…”

The door swung open and Kylo’s mother stood angrily in the doorway,

“BENJAMIN! What on earth are you-?, Oh my God, sweetie are you okay?!”

Leia rushed over to the shaking, sobbing girl, and turned to her son, “What did you do now?! Oh, Christ, Ben what did you do?!”

Kylo sunk down to the floor, “Mom...I just got kind of mad…”

Rey wheezed and clung to Leia as if she was her mother, “Please...I want to go home…”

“Just breathe, sweetie, I’ll call Luke.”

“I can’t ever…” she wheezed, “Be here again…”

“Just breathe…”

 

* * *

 

Reygun:

I don’t know how I’ll ever become a psychologist and help people with their traumas and issues if I can’t even get over my own. Healing is so difficult, c-ptsd is the worst thing in the world, and childhood traumas last forever. It’s been six months since my last *real* *bad* relapse, and silly optimist me thought that I was mentally healthy enough to start working with someone worse off than me. I was so wrong. Cue the flashbacks and panic attacks. I feel so stupid, and ashamed of myself, but I’m trying to bring myself back into reality. My lovely mentor and his partner are letting me stay at their place for a bit, and thank god for them, because I don’t know what I’d do alone at my flat. Idk. I’m trying my best though. Send me good energies. Namaste <3

 

* * *

 

“I cannot believe you, Benjamin!”, Kylo’s mother went on and on, “That poor girl was trying to help you! She was being kind to you, and you yell at her? You say those cruel things and scare her like that? She had a panic attack, Benjamin! That’s serious!”

“I’m sorry, mom…” Kylo mumbled.

“I’m not the one you should say that to, Ben. You’re a grown man and you can make your own decisions, but I sincerely hope you consider apologizing to her…”

“I’m really sorry, mom.”

Leia sighed, “I know it’s hard for you to control your anger, honey, but this needs to be a wakeup call. I’m not supposed to tell you this, but Luke told me that Rey struggles with post traumatic stress disorder. You can’t just scream at people and not expect them to react. You never know what triggers a person may have..”

Kylo hung his head in shame, “I’m so sorry…”

“You should call her, honey. I’ll bring you your meds in an hour.” she kissed his hair gently and left.

 

* * *

 

New Text to: Rey

Me: Heyyy… [sent]

Me: Listen im really sorry about today [sent]

Me: ru okay? [sent]

Rey: I’m okay. I’ll see you tomorrow? [received]

Me: u sure??? u rly want to come back??? [sent]

Rey: Yes. I’ll be there at noon. We should just set some boundaries. [received]

 

* * *

 

Kylo set his phone down with a sigh of relief, and leaned back. Rey’s willingness to forgive and forget just made him feel even more guilty.

All his life, Kylo scared everyone off. Friends, pretty girls, cute guys, roommates, family members, _his own fucking dad_ …

Everyone would just give up on him the minute they saw the extent of his anger issues, so he gave up on trying to better himself. Being abandoned by everyone was inevitable, and no one ever tried to make amends. They weren’t willing to fix anything, so why should he be?

But...this girl, Rey, this kind, smart college girl who somehow got far enough in her studies at nineteen years old to work directly with the top psychologist in the field. The girl who had her shit together and made good choices despite clearly having her own struggles and pain was the one who saw something in Kylo? That really made him think.

Maybe he’d have to work a little harder next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Praise for Star Wars: The Kin Wars -
> 
> "Riveting. The best Star Wars adaptation of the century. ☆☆☆☆" - George Lucas
> 
> "A masterpiece of the English language, as well as a haunting glimpse into the mind of a deeply disturbed individual under the pressure of millennial social media culture." - Barack Obama
> 
> "10/10. This is one story I'm NEVER gonna give up!" - Rick Astley
> 
> "A real Hollywood story! No Mickey Mouse stuff!" - Tommy Wiseau
> 
> "A breathtaking force of nature that will make you laugh, cringe and crytype with its raw, real emotion." - Michael Jordan, star of the critically acclaimed film, Space Jam.


End file.
